HEADLINES
Airbus gets ready for tough talks
KEVIN O'TOOLE/LONDON
THE AIRBUS Industrie part ners are preparing for a tough
round of negotiations over the
value and scale of assets which are
to be pooled when die consortium
becomes a fully fledged company,
but little firm progress is expected
until Aerospatiale has sealed its
own merger with Dassault
Aviation.
A memorandum of understand
ing, which was promised by die end
of 1996, was finally signed on 13
January, pledging to turn the con
sortium into a stand-alone com
pany. In principle, it would
incorporate the full range of design
and development, production,
procurement and customer ser
vices functions now carried out by
the existing four partners.
No firm decision appears to have
been taken, however, over exacdy
which assets will eventually be
pooled. A statement by the part
ners says only that the issue of
what is transferred to the new
company will depend on "...how
far die assets are essential for the
described functions and dieir
detailed valuation".
High-level working parties are
understood to be preparing to
begin tackling die valuation issues,
which is always the most problem
atic in any merger, widi the aim of
completing die study by die end of
this year.
Sources close to die talks admit
diat any firm decisions are likely to
have to stay on hold until after
Aerospatiale has tied up its pend
ing merger with Dassault Aviation,
expected to be finalised in the first
half of 1997. The two companies
themselves are involved in highly
sensitive negotiations over valua
tion, which sources concede will
have to be agreed first before
Aerospatiale can throw itself into
detailed discussions over Airbus
restructuring.
There are also continuing
doubts over how much of its Air
bus operation Aerospatiale is will
ing to relinquish. Around 30% of
die French group's workforce and
closer to 40% of its sales come
from Airbus — representing a
transfer of up to some 11,000 jobs
and $4 billion turnover if die whole
operation were put into the new
company.
The assets are centred on the
final assembly lines at Toulouse, as
well as aerostructures plants at St
Lazare and Nantes.
German partner Daimler-Benz
Aerospace (DASA) has been the
most public supporter of a full
merger of Airbus work from design
dirough to assembly, although it
has not yet specified how much of
its own assetswould be transferred.
DASA Airbus employs a workforce
of 13,000 at five plants i n Germany,
with commercial-aircraft sales in
die region of $2.5 billion.
British Aerospace is openly talk
ing about the possibility of con
tributing the whole of its BAe
Airbus operations, based on the
wing design and assembly plant at
Filton and the manufacturing
operations at Chester. That would
involve around 4,000 jobs,
although the group says that
another 2,500 people who are
working elsewhere within die
group on Airbus programmes
would not be included. BAe does
not disclose die value of its Airbus
work, but it is estimated to be in
the Si-1.5 billion range.
The aim is for the new com
pany's ownership to continue to
reflect the existing shares held by
die partners, with Aerospatiale and
DASA both holding 37.9%, BAe
taking 20% and CASA of Spain
4.2% of the shares. That will
require compensation for com
panies which contribute more than
their share in assets, although
details of how this may be achieved
have vet to be laid down. •
FAA demands total 737 rudder-retrofit programme
RAMON LOPEZ/WASHINGTON DC
GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES
The US Federal Aviation Administration is to order
airlines to retrofit four newly
developed rudder-svstem compo
nents in 2,800 Boeing 737s. US
Vice President Al Gore revealed
die move in a speech on commer
cial aviation security and safety.
The updated components will be
incorporated in new-build 737-
300, -400 and -500 series from
mid-1998 onward, says Boeing, as
die components become available.
Thev will be standard on die next
NEWS IN BRIEF
• ENGINE TIE-UP
Pratt & Whitney Canada has
signed a joint venture agree
ment with China National
South Aeroengine and
Machinery Company on a
partnership in small gas tur
bine engines assembly.
generation 737-600/700/800.
The modifications must be com
pleted within three years of die air
worthiness directive (AD). The
order is compulsory for US-regis
tered aircraft, but Boeing expects
most foreign operators to be
required to comply because the
FAA is die 737's lead certificating
authority. Boeing says that world
wide retrofitting will cost $126-
$140 million, which it will share
with its suppliers including rudder-
power control unit (PCU)-maker
Parker Bertea. Airlines, which will
carry out the work during
"overnight maintenance periods",
will cover the labour costs.
The changes were prompted by
two unexplained 737 crashes: to the
USAir 737-300 near Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, on 8 September,
1994, and to the United Air Lines
73 7-200 near Colorado Springs on
3 March 1991. In both cases, an
uncommanded rudder hard-over is
suspected, but not proven, to be a
cause. Acting FAA administrator
Linda Hall Daschle says: "We want
to ensure that the rudder moves
Rudder and yaw-damper
limits
Rudder
Maximum rudder deflection
at zero airspeed
(available rudder deflection
reduces as airspeed increases)
Source: Boeing FUGHl
only when the pilot wants it to."
The changes include:
• a rudder-limiter which reduces
hydraulic pressure to actuators.
This decreases rudder travel by
about 3 3 % in the event ofa rudder
hard-over;
• a redesigned rudder power con
trol unit (PCU) with a new servo
valve similar to the one proposed
by Boeing for the 737-700. This
unit, which will undergo extensive
testing to evaluate the effect of rud
der-control system jamming, is
designed to eliminate uncom
manded rudder motion, including
rudder reversals;
• mechanical rate-gyros used in
the yaw-damper system will be
replaced by dual-configuration
solid-state rate-gyros to reduce
system faults;
• redesigned fasteners on the con
trol rod which links a torque tube
to the main rudder PCU input arm
to reduce the chance of mechanical
failure.
The AD will require that the
yaw-damper and rudder-limiter
work must be completed within
three years.
A two-year deadline has been set
for the PCU and rudder-control-
rod changes.
Meanwhile, Boeing wants rud
der-pedal force to be a flight-data-
recorder parameter in all 737s. •
4 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 - 28 January 1997